Produce Awards
Tathra Place Free Range shows why it’s a delicious. Produce Award winner.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER really do flock together at Tathra Place Free Range. The multi-species regenerative farm in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales is home to chickens, ducks, quail, pigs and cows, raised together as nature intended.
While the set-up is unusual, Luke Winder, who owns Tathra Place with his wife Pia, believes there are huge benefits to be had from multi-species farming.
“The pigs uproot the weeds, the ducks fertilise the soil, the cows mow the grass, the chickens eat fly larvae… it’s like a choreographed dance. It’s amazing, but you have to remember, nature has been doing it like this for millions of years.”
The animals are regularly rotated around 10-acre silvopastures, which are planted with trees and forage to create diverse natural habitats. “We are trying to replicate nature and the way animals live in the wild as closely as we can,” Luke says.
Tathra Place’s Pekin x Aylesbury ducks roam the pastures by day eating saplings and bugs. At night they sleep under stars, protected by a pack of 12 Maremma dogs.
The duck is a hot ticket item at the country’s best restaurants including Quay, Bennelong and Woodcut, thanks to its flavour and luscious fat .
“Basically, it’s a million times tastier than a factory farmed bird, because they’re getting those nature inputs, the sun, the dirt, the grass, the insects,” Luke says.
Luke and Pia’s pasture-raised quail are kept in a steel “field pod” made by Luke, and moved around the property each day.
“It allows us to have them on pasture, but also gives them the cover they need as a small bird that is predated by everything.”
New to the fold are a flock of French fowl, known as Bresse chickens. Tathra
Place has teamed up with
CopperTree Farms to produce the prized poulet, which is considered the best eating bird in the world.
“I don’t call them ‘chickens’, I feel like that is the world’s greatest insult. I cannot describe just how incredible this product is. I put this up against any grass-fed wagyu in the world. It is absolutely world class,” Luke says.
Tathra Place, which won the 2020 delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Award for Next-Gen Producer is currently the only farm in Australia breeding the rare birds, which can fetch up to $1 million for the genetic rights. Needless to say, there’s huge interest from leading restaurateurs and wholesalers and, naturally, a few ruffled feathers. “There’s a fight on. Everybody wants it,” says Luke.
Try more top produce from the delicious. Produce Awards at Rockpool Bar & Grill’s special dinner during American Express delicious. Month Out. Flip this issue over to our mini mag to find all the information.